DISINFO: About 80 children torn from Ukrainian refugees across Europe over past year
SUMMARY
Although there is no aggregated data, lawyers and human rights activists say that about 80 children have been seized from Ukrainian refugees in Europe over the past year. The real number of such cases is much higher.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation claim which Russian propaganda uses to create a negative image of Europe in which children are allegedly seized from their refugee parents. This claim was made in the context of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. As such it is also an attempt to deflect attention away from the well-documented Russian state-sponsored abduction of Ukrainian children for which the International Criminal Court ICC has issued an international arrest warrant against Putin and Russian Federation Childrens' Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova.
StopFake, a fact-checking organisation founded in 2014 by Ukrainian professors and students found no evidence of Ukrainian refugees living in Europe having their children taken away from them. See their full debunk.
In reality, European officials are not authorised to remove children from their families. In Germany, for example, this extreme measure may be applied only if the child is in serious danger. A national report on Combating Child Abuse and Neglect Child Protection in Germany explicitly says:
“If employees of the Child and Youth Welfare Authority believe there is an imminent danger, for example, they find a toddler during a home visit in a totally trashed apartment and in a health-threatening condition, then they have far-reaching authorities: they are legally allowed to remove the children temporarily from the parents’ home, if the danger cannot be averted in any other manner. (...) The custody is terminated with the return of the child, provided the danger no longer exists, with the initiation of support services or a court decision.”
Read similar disinformation cases alleging that The West is taking away Ukrainian children like it did with indigenous people in America and that Ukrainian children being seized from refugee parents.